Frank commentary from a retired call girl

Hollow Claims

Full bottles are quiet; it’s the empty ones that make noise. – Chinese proverb

Just over a month ago, the European Women’s Lobby issued another of its moronic “demands” that the European union impose the Swedish model on all member governments, claiming that prostitution can be reduced by doing so; this ludicrous cry for attention rests on a mountain of assumptions, every one of them wrong. It assumes that the European Union has such a power; that the Swedish model works as claimed; that laws can control human nature; that prohibition reduces use of the prohibited thing; that “violence” means “anything I don’t like”; that all whores are pathetic victims; that all women are magically connected together like the tentacles of some immense hyperspatial entity; that EWL has the right to determine morality for all women or all of Europe; and that anyone whose mind is not crippled by neofeminism or whose morality is not crippled by political ambition thinks of EWL and its inane declarations as anything other than caricatures. Those who wish to use the government to violently suppress consensual sex acts they don’t like are atavisms, throwbacks to our tribal past who must eventually be buried along with those who once urged pogroms against racial or religious minorities.

Bizarrely, these evil women cast their bigotry as “progressive”, largely ignoring the fact that humanity as a whole is slowly losing its taste for using violence to suppress the sexuality of individuals (probably because we no longer live in small groups purely dependent upon sheer numbers for survival). I say “largely” instead of “completely” because the very fact that they pretend sex work is “violence against women” rather than mere “immorality” demonstrates that, at least on some level, they recognize that the majority of Western society no longer approves of suppressing non-violent behavior with violence. Though they are fond of claiming that sex workers who want rights rather than “rescue” are “unrepresentative”, this is mere projection on their part; in truth it is they who are unrepresentative of those for whom they presume to speak, and their apparently-influential movement is in actuality nothing but a huge, hollow head, impressing the gullible with its apparent size but lacking any substance whatsoever.

All over the world, advocates for health and human rights are calling for decriminalization; all over the world, sex workers ourselves are demanding it. “Sex trafficking” hysteria has galvanized political resistance to these demands, but this is only a temporary setback which will be reversed as soon as the moral panic implodes. And though yellow press organizations like the BBC are happy to pretend that the neofeminists’ papier-mâché construction is both sound and solid, publications which cater to those unimpressed by hype are considerably more skeptical. Consider these three articles which appeared in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (German-speaking Europe’s equivalent to the Wall Street Journal)* the day after the BBC ran its story on the EWL’s silly screed; they paint a very different picture from that the EWL and BBC want you to believe.

…After a period of mostly liberal handling…since the late 1990s European discourse about prostitution is increasingly characterized by the restrictive, abolitionist-colored Swedish model, which feminists of all stripes (including the European Women’s Lobby)…proclaim as the only proper treatment for commercial sex…as in the 19th century, [self-described] “abolitionists” claim that sex workers should be released from their “enslavement”…and Sweden typifies this with its stance that first, prostitution equals violence against women; second, that there are no voluntary, self-determined prostitutes; and third, that it is the clients who are to be punished…Sweden’s stated long-term goal is to totally abolish prostitution, but a look at history shows that such an undertaking has never succeeded anywhere; prostitution flourishes even in those countries where it is completely forbidden, such as in the Arab world…

The article goes on to compare Germany’s loose legalization with the stricter regimes in Austria and the Netherlands and the persecutory system in France, and concludes that the Germans are moving in the right direction (i.e. decriminalization), that strict legalization regimes create “chaos” by making it too difficult for most whores to work legally, and that women forced by restrictive laws to work illegally are “particularly vulnerable when it comes to exploitation, isolation and violence.”

No country is able to provide accurate statistical information on the number and origins of all prostitutes or about the nature or place of their work. It is an extremely diverse industry, ranging from streetwalkers to escorts to dominatrices to ladies who provide sexual services to the disabled. The latter type meets with the greatest public acceptance and is even exempt from some local prostitution regulations…but it never fails that discussion about prostitution usually involves only the most visible workers in the low-price segment…The German Confederation of Counseling Services for Sex Workers (BUFAS)…warns that the numbers being bandied about in Europe…are usually extrapolated in a fictitious and adventurous way. “Virtually every time we searched for the source of these figures,” said Holger Rettig from Adult Business Association, “we ran into a bubble”…many long-circulated myths and stories persist, and a study by Christiane Howe of the Technical University of Berlin demonstrates that the majority of negative comments about prostitution are based on hearsay and not on the commenter’s own experience.

If prostitution is discussed in print or digital media, there will never be a matching photograph but rather one showing the same thing…high heels and lots and lots of flesh…all over Switzerland for the past three years, the same type of photos was always shown: headless women, lit from behind and photographed from below, and preferably showing a lot of skin. But why this monotony, why the cementing of a cliché in almost all media? Nicole Aeby…working for Zurich’s Office for Gender Equality…analyzed the pictures and presented her findings…at a public meeting in the Town Hall…Aeby says that this reduced and voyeuristic view reinforces and cements the prejudices of some readers and probably some editors…

In the US and UK, politicians consider it part of their job to reinforce old stereotypes about whores and invent new ones, and major newspapers assiduously devote themselves to spreading a moral panic; in Switzerland, the government wants to fight whore stigma and major newspapers make a point of deconstructing the same moral panic. And while some governments demand their people bow down and worship the neofeminists’ ridiculous pasteboard idol, wiser heads are working to set it on fire.

*I am indebted to regular reader Frans van Rossum for calling these to my attention, and to Google for closing the numerous gaps in my execrable German.

12 Responses

prostitution flourishes even in those countries where it is completely forbidden, such as in the Arab world…

“Word”

Anyone who thinks you can prohibit prostitution needs only to observe it in the Arab world. Now – to be sure, there are lots of foreign girls who are easily available for anyone who “truck” themselves in and out of the middle east. However, ARAB WOMEN are also involved in the trade.

Western men aren’t allowed to talk to Arab women – not even Arab hookers. What they do – is “congregate” at certain places like dance halls and discos and the men use their “bluetooth” phone to “discover” cell phones of the women they are interested in. I’m still not sure how this works but apparently you can do this and start “messaging” a girl and negotiate an agreement – then they leave (separately) and rendezvous at an agreed upon hotel room.

I found this to be amazing – the lengths that some will go to for the sake of the paid sex trade where it is illegal. Doubtful that Western Democracies will go to the lengths to stop prostitution that some Arab nations will – like “removing” certain body parts with a sharp sword … so I don’t see why everyone in the Western world can’t realize this fact.

According to the Bible, there were only two human beings, in one place, with only one prohibited substance, which could only be found in one known spot in all the world. And who was the top cop? God Almighty. And how did it turn out?

Adam and Eve ate the fruit. If God Almighty can’t stop two people from eating a fruit which can only be found in one place, even after telling them “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” what hope do mortal police and mortal politicians have of stopping millions of people from consuming thousands of prohibited substances and services provided by millions of other people?

To those in power who would call themselves Christians I want to say: If God can’t do it, you SURE can’t do it.

Fantastic article and a great piece by the German wall street journal which as usual will fall on deaf ears simply by virtue of neofeminists’ obsession with Marxism, and the fact that most of them have a prepubescent grudge against anyone with an iota of success in their lives – be it sexual, material or both.

As for the Arab world, you don’t NEED to actually look at Saudi Arabia to see how they’ve failed to prevent whoring, just watch any group of Arabic males in…say Las Vegas and see them break literally every rule that their countries ‘moral laws’ forbid. .

The NZZ is certainly the premier newspaper for german speaking Switzerland. It used, until a few years ago, to be one of the most boring — it didn’t even have its own photographers, and the few pictures in it were from agencies. But it’s had a makeover, though the depth of its commentary remains — you can rely on it for informed articles, though, as with other papers, it does have a tendency to compare other countries unfavourably with Switzerland. And of course, as the main purpose of the Swiss is to make money, the papers do reflect this — “es geht alles ums geld” and “pas d’argent, pas de Suisse” — and as prostitution is a legal way of making money, even if there are too many foreigners at it, they will give it a very fair hearing.

At the start of the 2012 Olympics the EWL and a group of British activists got together to protest and destroy a copy of the Olympic charter. One of their complaints was that the police weren’t doing enough to harass prostitutes working in London during the games.

Of course they threw around the usual wild claims about sporting events causing a prostitution boom, with thousands of women and children being trafficked in to meet the demand. They also blamed prostitution for causing sex attacks against women near the Olympic village. They’re not a group to bother about trivial things like reality and evidence.

It’s frustrating that the mainstream media still so rarely questions the claims made by groups like the EWL. They’ve cried wolf so many times about this kind of thing, yet they keep on getting away with it.

It really annoyed me back when the “problem” of prostitution at the Olympics was being discussed. This video is pretty typical of the kind of credulous coverage the anti-prostitution campaign received: http://www.europeandyou.com/news/1126/13/

MEP Mary Honeyball claims that the majority of UK prostitutes are trafficking victims with “no freedom whatsoever” and the presenters just mindlessly nod in agreement. Maybe one of these days there’ll be an interview like that where a presenter actually calls them on their bullshit.

I want to say thank you Maggie that you put the European agenda on the table. I m deeply depressed at the moment and I dont know if I should and if I can move our matters forward anymore. The press and telly are full of crack-heads = conservative populist morons and abolitionists; whorearchy, bonkers, rescuers, pseudo-scientists and some social workers make this situation not much better and more worse. Meanwhile I joined several meetings and consultancies, officially and inoffically with people who speak about sex workers rights issues apart from Bufas and other conferences in the last years. I made this strange dis-empowering and deprivating experiences while speaking with so called allies. There are also self-declared activists who come forward without a clue and who have already internalised the trafficking agenda in some ways and tirelessly re-frame sex work with trafficking. Moreover there are alliances between idiosyncratic ideologists from all parts of the scenery and lobbyists like Holger Rettig who is interested to move independent workers from their places =flats. So called Laufhäuser and Brothels lost profit around 30% and more profit since prostitution law from 2002 is in force. At a consequence these lobbyists agree with conservative amendment of the bill and licensing schemes. There are also people on stage, pretend to be progressive by criticizing raids and policies, funded by these lobbyists. The situation in Germany, sandwiched by EWL campaigners from all neighbouring countries around, means pressure and I cant see any allies who campaign for decriminalising sex work. Its also an election year with federal elections in autumn. Conservatives use law and order as usual and xenophobic propaganda mixed up with trafficking. The media offer a stage in the front row. I m totally f**** up at the moment. Because of my activism as an active sex worker and my came-out many years ago I lost so many clients and also money so that I start another independent business a while ago, its more 9-5 and not connected to my heart, but I can travel. Better than nothing. I m on my way to Barcelona to work from there in the upcoming weeks but I m not happy and feel very lonely at the moment. Also for private issues. Life sucks.

Dealing with people who hate you, spread lies about you and want to destroy your profession can’t help but be depressing, especially during times when they seem to be winning. What you must remember is that they aren’t; all over the world educated and thinking people are coming to recognize that decriminalization is the best way, and no moral panic ever lasts forever. I know it’s not very encouraging to say such things to a witch in the middle of a witch hunt, but you must intellectually recognize it as true so as to help you through the hard times. Why don’t you drop me an email and we can chat a bit? It might cheer you up a little.

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